Why I’m a Fan of Levure Bakery

Levure Bakery & Patisserie, The Woodlands.

Where do I start? Between the delicious food, lovely decor and ambiance, prompt customer service and premium ingredients, there is too much good in Levure to choose from but let’s first take it to the basics: their bread.

They make their sourdough from scratch, the traditional way. I’ve made sourdough starter from scratch once, it’s a bit of a loving enterprise where you have to baby and feed the little bubbling, floury bugger for days. Needless to say, my starter went sour (maybe I smothered it or maybe my kitchen conditions weren’t ideal). Anyway, if you’ve tried their bread you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say their sourdough tastes like the real deal. It’s because it is.

Employees tell me that Manuel, the owner, arrives to Levure sometimes as early as 3 am to tend to his sourdough and start rolling dough. So that by 8am The Woodlands can all get their supply of fresh, delish, bread.

I even saw Cary, the owner of Fielding’s, walk in for his share. If you’ve eaten at Fielding’s you know that man’s got good taste – and he walked out happily with a long baguette.

I visited Levure Bakery with my girlfriends (you can see them, gorgeously photogenic on the B&W photo above). Jessica might be one of the pickiest eaters in Creekside. She’s like a little gourmand authority on breads, crusts and tasty soups and she had been insisting we visit Levure for weeks now. It’s difficult to impress that girl, but upon my first bite of Croque Madame I understood it all completely.

Levure Bakery’s Croque Madame is served in a cast iron skillet. A thick slice of their signature bread is topped with béchamel sauce, veggies or ham and gruyere cheese. It is then topped off with a farm fresh, fried egg. Glorious cheesiness in a plate. If you’ve been reading my blog you’ll know how I recently discovered (and love!) béchamel sauce. Here‘s how to make it at home (plus a cod au gratin recipe).

One of the bigger reasons I’ve become a fan of Levure Bakery is their focus on high quality ingredients. They use farm fresh eggs, organic flour and imported butter from France. Now, I’m not trying to condone importing goods over local fare, but honestly, when it comes to dairy, if I don’t personally know the farmer or company, I always feel a bit safer trusting the EU products and farming practices since their regulations ban a lot of chemicals and antibiotic use that are not yet banned in America.*

I’m especially excited Levure uses organic flour to make their bread. There aren’t a lot of places in The Woodlands that carry bread made with organic flour. That’s including Whole Foods. The less pesticide and herbicide residues in my food the better, and if there’s a lower chance of glyphosate in my bread – I’ll take it. Did I mention their bread is perfectly soft in the inside, crispy on the outside?

When I was at Levure I didn’t try any of their pastries. I know, terrible! Now looking at these pictures I wish I had taken at least that gorgeous almond croissant to-go.

Hi! Thanks for reading! I’m a certified nutritionist exploring the local & sustainable foods scenes in The Woodlands and Houston! Keep in touch and follow me! As of 2017 my sister and I just opened an outdoor dessert café – check it out! I couldn’t be more excited!